Of course I wonder what he is thinking and I am not really an Obama fan, but to call Obama politically inept is at best, naive. He’s pretty good at manipulating, actually, and has a way with words and knows when to be vague and when to lay it out flat.
Guy: Do what I want or I shoot the hostage
Other Guy: If you shoot the hostage, the hostage might die. He’ll definitely stop paying his bills for a while.
Turnip - OTHER GUY IS TRYING TO SCARE ME! HE’S A BAD MAN! SCAREMONGER!!!1!!
-Joe
Everybody aren’t the President of the United States.
If you want find it offensive when the president does it and ignore it when everyone involved in the same issue else does the same thing, that’s your prerogative. But I’ll continue to point out that it makes no sense. It’s also true that this debt ceiling issue has real consequences. And if ladyfoxfyre is right (I haven’t had a chance to watch), the quote looks less like scaremongering and more like an answer to a straightforward question.
I thought you were one of those folks who think there is some trust fund built up to pay SS. Why don’t they just tap that fund?
In what sense are the Republicans in power? They control the House, but I thought a party did not control the Senate unless they have a filibuster-proof margin. The GOP does not have such a margin; they aren’t even in the majority, and Obama is a Democrat and holds the Presidency.
Regards,
Shodan
Uh…no. This thread is about OBAMA making a statement. It’s not about anyone else.
This is getting very silly. The thread necessarily includes context from the debt ceiling negotiations, since that’s what he was being asked about. There have been plenty of times I’ve wondered what Obama was thinking, but given that context I don’t have a problem grasping what he said.
At least you’re consistent in being comfortable with defaulting on financial obligations.
Other people have a different ethic when it comes to being personally or collectively responsible.
Just goes to show that the old saw about how ‘there are no stupid questions’ is sometimes wrong. 
You do know the answer to this, right? I’ll humor you anyways (and the person below you that seemed to think you had a good point).
The SS Trust Fund is held in special issue T-Bills. These have the full faith and credit of the US Government, Constitutionally protected. SS payments also have the strength of law. These two facts would seem to gauarantee that SS payments will go out no matter what.
However, in their infinite wisdom, Congress also passed another law that limits the amount of debt that the government can issue. In order to make SS payments, during the current down-turn, the SSA has had to sell some of the Trust Fund assets to make full payments (SS tax income is below outlays currently, in part because of the payroll tax holiday). It’s possible to use general revenue to pay back these securities - but it’s not clear that the executive has the authority to decide which parts of appropriation bills to honor and which to disregard.
So, the debt limit isn’t raised, the question becomes - which law should the executive break?
You may have heard that a bill must pass both houses of Congress to become a law. If you didn’t, there is a nice Schoolhouse Rock video that will explain it all for you.
As to the politics of Obama’s statement - it was pretty stark, and will certainly get blowback from the GOP, but in the end is good politics. In fact, within hours of him saying it McConnell floated his capitulation plan. It’s always good to point out to the voters what reducing the deficit without any increased revenues really means, because they never seem to remember. And they love their SS and Medicare way more than they care about the deficit.
Why aren’t the champions of journalistic integrity jumping up and down about this blantant bit of ‘gotcha journalism?’
Granted, it was no, “what papers do you read,” but still …
When Clinton says that Social Security checks may be affected if the debt limit wasn’t raised in 1995, that was cunning political maneuvering to triangulate Newt Gingrich into a box by that sly and devious “Slick Willie.”
When Obama says that Social Security checks may be affected if the debt limit isn’t raised in 2011, it’s a rookie mistake by a secret Muslim.
I hope everyone understands the difference now.
The first black president gets all the props, the second one nobody gives a shit?
-Joe
Hey, it ain’t yellow cake uranium.
It’s calculated to reach Boehner and his radical (or radicalized) membership, nothing more. The heart of the reactionary base driving the GOP to refuse to deal IS the frightened elderly. By letting the Loyal Opposition be reminded that refusal to deal has even deadlier consequences for them politically than dealing, Obama lets them decide for themselves that they have to swallow the smaller pill instead.
Sigh.
The reality is, that he’s lying. Now if you’re okay with the President lying to make a point, then fine. But if you’re not okay with being lied to, then you should have a problem with it.
Doesn’t matter if so and so lied also, or some other President, or some other Senator etc. Lying is lying.
There isn’t any shortage of funds to pay SS with the debt ceiling exactly where it is right now. Matter of fact, the debt ceiling has nothing at all to do with SS payments (current).
Current Intragovernmental Holdings: $4.6 Trillion.
Total expenditures for SS and Medicare in 2010 was $1.24 Trillion. Total assets were $1.26 Trillion.
How much money is in the Social Security Trust Fund is not relevant to the ability of the government to pay bills if/when the treasury runs dry.
Like Jas09 explained before you posted, the debt in the trust fund has to be converted into cash. To turn the debt into cash, there has to be money in the General Fund of the United States in order to redeem the debt. If there is no cash in the General Fund, the debt can’t be converted into cash.
You can’t say Obama is lying if you do not know the current balance of the General Fund. Let’s review what Obama said: “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3 if we haven’t resolved this issue. There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.” Unless you know that there is sufficient sufficient money in the General Fund to support the checks, and unless you can show that Obama knows that there is sufficient money to do so, your accusation that he is lying is incorrect.
What Obama said and what (at least some) people heard are two different things. A co-worker of mine told me today that ‘that damn Obama isn’t going to pay Social Security checks in August’. Upon looking into the claim, I found the actual statement and read it word-for-word to her. “No,” she said, “that’s not what he said - I heard him say with my own ears that he isn’t going to pay if they don’t raise the debt ceiling. My mom heard it too and called me. I was hoping she hadn’t heard it.”
That’s the problem with what Obama said - his statement was worded in such a way that the only thing some voters will remember is that HE isn’t going to pay. Not the government, not the Dems or Repubs but Obama personally.
Thanks – that was exactly my point.